Tuesday, February 06, 2007

2' 1"

That is how much height separates my three year-old child from me. Billy measured in at 3' 3" at yesterday's physical. He weighed in at 38 lbs. (When do you reach an age that it is appropriate to weigh more than your height in inches?)

All in all it was a good appointment. We had an issue with the insurance, but that's always the way. Dave was able to straighten it out. Nice to have a spouse in the biz.

B didn't need any shots, which was nice. He's hit all of his major milestones, including shocking mommy by knowing he's a boy and not a girl (although, when he sees me potty he tries to find my p*nis). The only things she wants us to focus on are potty training (she seemed a bit disdainful that he's still in a diaper) and circle drawing.

Question for mom's who've successfully accomplished toilet learning: how do you get a kid to potty when he doesn't want to be on the potty? When do I start to worry? We've been pretty low-key about it. I figure you can't force him to go if he won't and we don't have the time to sit him on the potty until he does. Sometimes the mess and wet do bother him, a lot of the time it doesn't. Should I move him to the feel and learn diapers?

I'm not worried about the writing thing. I know they practice that a lot at school.

The green aran is well past the armhole shaping. Although, it's going to be a while before the back is finished. This knit blogging thing is really boring without pictures. I need to start blogging from home.

2 comments:

My 2.5 yo is fully trained now (24/7). She was in diapers at Christmas. Here's my tricks:

1. We're big in my house about choices. DD chooses almost everything, and we respect her decisions (of course we control what we offer to make sure that whatever she chooses we will like). When we had trouble training her to go #2, I knelt down, looked her in the eye, and said the following:

"DD, you are a big girl. You are so smart. You can decide to go poo-poo. In fact, ONLY YOU can decide to go. Mommy can't make you go. Daddy can't make you go. Only you. Only you get to decide. So, when you feel like you need to go, only you can choose to sit on the potty and go. Big girls get to choose. I know you can do it, too."

2. That same moment, I put up a big chart next to her potty. It was her favorite color (purple), so I named it "DD's Purple Poo-Poo Star Chart." We limit stickers to special occasions, so every time she went, she got to put a star up on her chart.

3. I put her in panties full time (except at night, although now she's in panties 24/7). She had lots of accidents. When we went anywhere, I took two changes of clothes. But, she was embarrassed and uncomfortable being wet and messy, so she learned really quickly to say she needed to go. Worked wonders. Took about 2 weeks of intermittent accidents to work.

4. Lots of asking (do you need to go? Do you feel it?). Lots of praise (I am so proud of you. You're such a big girl). Limited juices until a time in the day when I knew, about 30 min later, we'd be near the loo.

5. Never mean or scolding comments during accidents. She was embarrassed enough on her own; she didn't need me making her feel worse. Instead, I simply said things like, "Wow. That came on quick! Let's get changed, and next time, let's sit on the potty to go. That way we won't get our clothes wet." I also pointed out that when her favorite panties or clothes were wet, she couldn't wear them anymore until I washed them. that upset her, and I think helped her learn to go.

Sorry for the long response. Really, these are the things I did -- nothing more or less -- and it worked in about 2 mos.

My DD is going to be 3 in April. I don't care if/when she's potty trained. I know she will be when she's ready and it will happen before kindergarten. However, her daycare is putting emphasis on it with the 3 year olds. So, I bring the feel and learn pullups and they take her every hour. We follow through at home. She's stayed mostly dry. But, I don't think she's really trained. I will wait for the day that she tells me that she needs to go, rather than when I ask. I'm not going to stress about it. She doesn't care when she's wet or poopy and she never has. She doesn't care about "big girl" underwear, either. She doesn't care about getting a sticker or not. Her pediatrician advised me to wait until she was ready and said that unless she shows a big interest, not to even try until she's three. It's one fight that I choose long ago not to fight.

I think it really depends on your child. With some children, the more you push, the more they dig in. Other children are easy going and will go along with it. But, I think it's really important not to put too much stress on your child about it.